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Environmental Problems in Sao Paulo: The Challenge for Co-Responsibility and Innovative Crisis Management
Pedro Jacobi*
This article describes and analyzes the main environmental problems that affect the city of Sao Paulo. The article views the impacts of the local dynamics of urbanization and its effects on daily life. The discussion is centered on the complexity of the environmental management processes and the implementation of conventional and non-conventional policies and programmes to prevent environmental degradation. Possible solutions to alleviate the effects of floods and climate factors on households are debated as well as the possibilities of formulating more participatory oriented policies to engage citizens in the knowledge of environmental risks. These issues represent a very complex challenge to the urban government of Sao Paulo.

Introduction
Sao Paulo is a `mega-city' that occupies 1,577 square kilometres within the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Region (SPMR), in itself 8,051 square kilometres, with a population of more than 10.1 million in 1995, which, if added to the inhabitants of the other 38 municipalities that comprise this region, represents 17 million inhabitants and constitutes one of the three largest urban agglomerations in the world. The dynamics of expanding urbanization has produced a segregated and highly degraded urban environment with serious effects on the inhabitants' quality of life. Locations unsuitable for healthy dwellings are used, such as hillsides, meadows and water-spring protection areas. Moreover, this occupation often consisted of poor dwellings in areas with few urban services. Sao Paulo is the wealthiest city in Brazil and its metropolitan area accounts for 18 per cent of the country's GDP, 31 per cent of the industrial domestic product and 25 per cent of the industrial labour force (EMPLASA, 1994). The city, as well as the metropolitan area, is characterized by great inequalities in income distribution, since the richest 10 per cent of the population earns 30 per cent of the total income and the poorest 50 per cent earning only onequarter of the total income (Rolnik et al, 1990). Sao Paulo's growth has created urban patterns similar to those in other Latin American cities, characterized by large disparities in health, social and economic status (Jacobi, 1990). The outskirts of the city lack basic urban services and have
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been occupied by less privileged, low income groups. Today, the metropolitan region is undergoing very significant economic changes. The industrial metropolis is gradually becoming a tertiary one. In 1990, this sector accounted for 60.4 per cent of persons employed. The demographic growth rate of the city has decreased significantly since the 1980s, representing annually 1.0 per cent. More than 50 per cent of the central and intermediate districts have negative growth and the peripheral areas are responsible for 90 per cent of the total demographic growth. According to the 1991 census, 71 per cent of the total population of the city lives in the peripheral rings of the city and 29 per cent in central/ intermediate areas (Jacobi, 1995). Sao Paulo is relatively well served by the socalled basic environmental related urban services water supply and solid waste collection although quality and quantity suffer important variations between central/intermediate and suburban districts (Jacobi, 1995). While the public water supply network benefits, approximately, 95 per cent of the population, only 65 per cent are connected to the sewage network, indicating relevant differences between centre and periphery. The most serious failing of this process is the limited conditions for treatment, therefore, most of the sewerage does not receive primary (7 per cent) nor secondary treatment (19 per cent). Because the sewerage network is insufficient, there is significant open-air sewage dumping,

* Pedro Jacobi, CEDEC, University of Sao Paulo, Rua Alrosa Galvao 64, 05002-070 Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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clandestine connections to the rain-water network and direct sewage dumping in waterways. There has also been an increasing number of critical flood points in the city because of the delay in the construction of basic infrastructural works. The number of critical flood points is around 450. The issue of solid-waste dropping has also become a significant problem with the daily average of collected solid waste in the city being 15,000 tons. More than 90 per cent is sent to the city's landfills, most of which are at the limit of their useful capacity. Precarious housing conditions in slums and many peripheral settlements add to the deficit of urban infrastructure and their critical location in risk areas and watersheds multiply the predatory conditions of existing urbanization and its impacts on environmental degradation. According to the 1995 official municipal data, slums accounted for 19 per cent of housing, tenements for 15 per cent and low income peripherical settlements for 26 per cent, thus, indicating that 60 per cent of the housing stock of the city can be and are classified as low income housing. Official data indicates that less than one per cent of the slums are located in the city-centre, 47 per cent in the intermediate belt and 52 per cent in the suburban belt. The city of Sao Paulo can be considered as undergoing a severe environmental crisis as a result of a lack of attention, omission, delay and the inadequate managerial ability of local authorities to put into practice actions to reduce the increasing and damaging problems linked to the following:
q

The Context of Risks: Environmental Aggravations of Solid Waste Diagnosis

According to official data, the daily average of collected solid waste in the Metropolitan Region of Sao Paulo (SPMR) is around 18,000 tons. From this total, the city of Sao Paulo is responsible for 76 per cent. The destination of most of the solid waste of the city is landfills, which account for 72 per cent of the total, with 18 per cent to landfills for inerts, 8 per cent to compost plants and 2 per cent to incinerators. In spite of receiving most of the city's collected solid waste, the landfills do not treat run-off from, and seepage through, the garbage which may reach underground waters. For the SPMR, the final destinations are 75 per cent to landfills, 13 per cent to waste dumps, 9 per cent to compost plants and 3 per cent to obsolete incinerators (Teixeira, 1995). The city's landfills are at the limit of their capacity, and not all solid waste collection is under the control of public authorities there having been counted, in 1994, 348 points of clandestine solid waste disposal that receive all types of wastes, including residential (Jacobi, 1995). This clandestine disposal is not very serious in the city of Sao Paulo, but it represents a real problem in the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Region, where the amount of waste discarded in dumps is 50 per cent of all the waste collected in the other 38 municipalities. The rest is discarded in landfills (38 per cent), controlled landfills (5 per cent) and compost plants (7 per cent). In the SPMR, around 25 municipalities have, as their only alternative, waste dumps to eliminate their garbage. In sum, this results in serious environmental problems, with water and soil pollution being the most serious. In addition, air pollution is produced by spontaneous combustion; gas emissions into the atmosphere; gas seepage into public sewage systems, septic tanks, wells and ground water; and landscape debasement. In the case of the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Region, a large number (56 per cent) of waste dumps are located in Areas of Protection of Water Basins. The existing infrastructure of the SPMR is obsolete and saturated. It is composed of nine controlled landfills, three incinerators, two industrial landfills and 25 identified, active waste dumps (nine of them in environmental protection areas) and thousands of waste dumps that are scattered through the region, sometimes de-activated, sometimes in use and generally for the discard of industrial waste (Oliveira,1995). The magnitude of the problem is directly linked to the fact that the huge quantities produced daily and the high degree
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The constant reduction of green areas, which implies an excessive impermeabilization of soil and an increase in critical areas of flooding; with severe social, economic and environmental impacts on the overall structure of the city, in effect, throughout the whole year; the lack of stringent practical and short-term measures and policies to control air pollution; a serious delay in the completion of the Sewage System Expansion Plan; a serious delay in the expansion of the subway network and more adequate public transportation alternatives to enable a reduction in the use of cars; the contamination of most of the water sources and waterways within the city and the risk that this involves for the population, mainly in the flood-prone areas; and the exhaustion of the conventional alternatives for the disposal of solid waste and the problems resulting from the contamination of ground-water and surfacewater through run-off and leaching.

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of heterogeneity of the composition of the solid waste, is increased by an increasing shortage of areas that are physically and environmentally suitable for the location of disposal and final treatment activities. Particularly in the case of the city of Sao Paulo, the exhaustion of the physical space for the installation of controlled landfills has created a very complex situation as to the possible ways to solve the problem.

Operational Solutions to the Crisis

The mayor in Sao Paulo is elected directly for four years. The city's administration is responsible for most services, except basic sanitation services, gas and electricity, that are managed at the state level. Governance depends very much on the relations between Executive and Legislature. Since 1988, the city has had a Municipal Organic Law, giving the Legislature more power in the decision making process, mainly in the making of the budget and the definition of public policies and institutional innovations. In 1988, a coalition of left-wing parties, led by the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT-Workers Party, which is the strongest left-wing party in the country), won the municipal elections. The victory in these elections was made possible by significant support from grass-roots movements, thus representing an intensification of participatory practices engaging community organizations and social movements, a reversal of priorities and a re-directing of public investments to address social inequalities. This represented the building of complex institutional engineering around participatory practices, one of which is linked to the issue of solid waste collection. A programme of selective recollection of solid waste was begun, experimentally, that obtained good results and was expanded, reaching, at the end of the term, 100,000 households in 31 neighbourhoods of the city, but it did not continue. The city of Sao Paulo is governed, and has been since 1993, by a conservative political alliance. This alliance won the elections, interrupting the politically progressive administration of the city by PT, which had been in office since 1989. The new conservative mayor, since November 1996, representing an opposite paradigm of administration, discontinued this innovative programme, alleging financial reasons and asserting that the recollection cost of US$41,700 per ton, against US$3,000 through the normal system, was not being offset by US$5,000 per ton of saleable waste; thus representing a deficit of US$36,700 (Jacobi and Teixeira, 1995).
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The problem of eliminating domestic solid wastes led the out-going mayor, Paulo Maluf (19931996), to propose as a solution the construction of two new incinerators. This proposal has generated controversy between the municipal government and the Forum of Civil Society Organizations Against the Incinerators, composed of several movements of citizens with reservations about this type of solution and who propose other responses that are environmentally-oriented. There are also regional popular movements (especially in the southern periphery and eastern periphery of the city, inhabited by thousands of low income families), where the incinerators are to be located. The main arguments of those who oppose the construction of the incinerators are based on reports of the Environment Protection Agency of the US (EPA), that proved a correlation between dioxides and furanes (gases liberated by incinerators) and cancer. The objective of the Forum is to create public awareness, informing, debating, creating citizens' resistance to the construction of the incinerators and proposing alternatives to the final destination of solid waste by the city (Debates Socio-Ambientais, 1995). According to the municipal environmental authorities, no risk of contamination is involved, because the incinerators are of the most advanced technology, but these arguments are not convincing to the environmental movement concerned about the possible risks involved and not accepting any solution representing even a marginal level of uncertainty. The construction of the incinerators involves US$500 million, to be obtained through international loans, but the present Brazilian financial authorities have not authorized the agreement for the loan. This decision has jeopardized the plans of the municipality to incinerate half of the city's solid waste production and resulted in the postponement of a solution that may provide a more environmentally-sound, integrated and systemic alternative. For the citizens' movements, there are already sufficient indicators to strengthen resistance against the incinerators, based on the fact that incineration is incompatible with the reduction, re-use and re-cycling of solid-waste, given that it is structured in large and constant quantities of mixed garbage. The opposition groups argue that incinerators represent a superficial solution, that does not attack the problem at its root; that is, the need to reduce, quantitatively, the volume of solid-waste produced. The alternative proposed by the citizens' movement is based on an integrated logic of management which articulates selective re-collection, an increased production of high quality compost and severe controls on landfills.

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Air Pollution Diagnosis

The city of Sao Paulo faces specific problems of air pollution because of the combination of topographic, climatic factors and an excess of private cars. The atmospheric conditions particular to the region, create a phenomenon of strong thermal inversion in the winter-time, worsening air pollution problems and their impact on health, particularly an increase in lung diseases. Air quality standards are frequently exceeded, with those most commonly surpassed being suspended particulate matter, carbon monoxide and ozone levels and, to a lesser degree, the emissions of sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and organic composts. Initially associated with industrial production, which has now reduced significantly its impact, air pollution, today, is produced by motor vehicles, responsible for 90 per cent of the total, with differences between each pollutant. Diesel vehicles, as well as gasoline and alcohol, produce toxic gases and particulates; with differences in the quantity that each expels into the atmosphere. The totally light-gasoline and alcoholdependant vehicles are the main expellers of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons, with the diesel-powered trucks and buses being the main causes of the emission of suspended particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen. The type of emission is directly linked to type of fuel used, thus, the liberation of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons is associated, basically, with gasoline vehicles, whilst the release of oxides of nitrogen, sulphur dioxide and particulated matter is associated with diesel oil and the aldehydes of alcohol-based vehicles, which generate other co-lateral health problems. In the last five years, there has been a significant reduction in the fleet fueled by ethanol, caused by a shift in an industry which had recycled its production since 1979, when the government implemented the National Alcohol Programme, launched in 1975 to reduce oil imports. On one hand, the use of alcohol brought benefits as it allowed the substitution of lead-based additives in gasoline and allowed a drastic reduction in the emission of carbon monoxide. The addition of 22 per cent of alcohol to gasoline was important as it allowed the National Petroleum Company (Petrobras) to implement the total elimination of lead from gasoline from 1990 (Sobral, 1995). Recently, air quality has significantly deteriorated due to an increase in the number of cars in circulation, the bad condition of car engines and increasing traffic congestion increasing the frequency of high levels of air pollution. To this has to be added an insufficient and inadequate provision of public transport, stimulating the use of individual transportation.

The fleet is estimated to be 4.5 million cars and 12,000 buses. In 1992, traffic congestions, at peak, were 36 km, in 1995, they grew to 94 km and, in 1996, they reached 190 km, becoming the second most serious problem for the population, after violence. During the 1980s, the average speed fell from 28 to 22 km per hour. The rate of occupancy is 1.5 persons per car and the number of cars estimated to circulate, per day, is 3,200,000 (CETESB, 1995). Air pollution monitoring started in 1973, through the State Environment Protection Agency (CETESB), with the systematic manual measurement of the air quality, particularly, sulphur dioxide and smoke levels in the metropolitan region, by a complex system of mobile and fixed sampler stations located in central and intermediate regions of the city. From 1976, carbon monoxide levels began to be measured and, in 1983, suspended particulate matter. In 1991, introduced was the functioning of an automatic network of 25 fixed stations and two mobiles. The concentration of carbon monoxide frequently exceeds air quality standards, by a large margin, in almost all monitoring stations (Segura and Tella, 1995/96; Sobral, 1995). Since 1986, the National Environmental Council has enacted a resolution establishing the automotive emission control programme, nation-wide, under the name PROCONVE. This programme was made possible, since 1989, through agreements with the automobile industry which entailed the industry incorporating advanced technology (electronic injection and cataliser) to help reduce emissions of pollutants. The emissions limits become progressively more stringent and the requirements of the legislation establish a maximum of 24g/km of carbon monoxide. In 1992, the new legislation required catalysers in new cars and a maximum of 12g/km, representing a significative reduction in automobile emissions (but far behind the requirements of cities in developed nations) and, for 1997, the threshold is 2.0g/km. The average contribution of polluting sources in the city of Sao Paulo, according to CETESB (1995), are: 50 per cent, vehicles; 20 per cent, suspended particulate matter; 10 per cent, secondary sulfates; 9.7 per cent, secondary carbonates; 3.6 per cent, burning of combustible fuel; and others, 2.3 per cent. The carbon monoxide situation, particularly, in the city of Sao Paulo, gives great cause for concern and very little improvement has been seen over the past years. Official data indicates that, between 1987 and 1994, air quality standards for total particulates in the atmosphere have been exceeded on both a daily and yearly basis. During periods unfavourable to pollutant
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dispersion, concentrations exceed the warning level and, occasionally, the alarm level. For smog, both daily and yearly standards were exceeded, the same occurring with inhaleable particulates and carbon monoxide. The average emission of carbon monoxide for the city of Sao Paulo in gasoline-powered vehicles produced before 1988 (57 per cent of the fleet) is 33g/km, for those produced after 1988 (13 per cent of the fleet), 13g/km, and for those produced after 1992 (30 per cent of the fleet), 6g/km. On the other hand, the data for alcohol-fueled vehicle: produced prior to 1988 (63 per cent), is 17g/km; produced after 1988 (24 per cent), 11 g/km; produced after 1992, (13 per cent) 4g/km (CETESB, 1995).

being that the second cause of infant mortality in the city is due to respiratory problems'.

Water and Sanitation Diagnosis

The poor quality of the city's watershed is one of the most serious problems faced by the population. Presently, the two main storage lakes that supply the city (with 28 per cent of total consumption) are in a precarious condition. Today, most of the water consumed in the city and SPMR (60 per cent) comes from sources distant by more than 1,000 km. This is directly linked to the constant deterioration provoked by irregular occupation by clandestine landownership transactions, bulk sewage dumping, destruction of nearby forests, silting-up and trash-dumping. Municipal authorities estimate that more than 600,000 people live in environmental protection areas, which represent around 36 per cent of the municipality area. In the 1980s, demographic growth within the environmental protection areas, mostly located in peripheral regions, has been three-times greater than that for the city as whole. Although the existence of serious environmental problems, resulting from sewage and industrial waste water, water supply in the city covers almost 95 per cent of the population. However, the existence of the network does not necessarily mean a regularity in supply and the greatest problem is meeting the connecting demand. Nevertheless, the water supply network is not evenly distributed within all districts. Since 1986, the by-turns system, which is a temporary solution to meeting water demand and is applied to the whole city, works in different ways according to whether the districts are located in the city centre or in the suburbs. The problem with this system is not only the discomfort with the lack of water, but the potential contamination in the supply network given the occurrence of lack of pressure. The normalization and regularization of the supply of water depend not only on an increase in the water production system, but also in a programme to control and help reduce the loss of water. According to official data (Sabesp, 1995), and notwithstanding an actual lack of water, the wastefulness of this resource represents approximately 22.5 per cent of the total, basically from leakages in the network. The water quality in the city is considered adequate for use, and water utility determines the quality of the drinking water. Official data indicates that the sewage system in the city of Sao Paulo services around 60 per cent of the total city population that has 75 per cent of its domestic sewage collected. From these, 19 per cent were treated at a secondary level and less than 10 per cent at a primary level

A Situation of Crisis and the Lack of Innovative Public Policies

In recent years, there has been an expansion in the so-called critical areas of air pollution basically confined to the more central areas of the city. The increasing deterioration in the quality of air in the city has had, as its main consequence, an intensification of health problems, mainly respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. The main victims are children suffering from malnutrition, the elderly and persons who suffer from chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and bronchitis (Saldiva, 1995/96). The outcomes of this research, covering May 1992 to April 1994, indicate that the increase in pollution (particularly by oxides of nitrogen and suspended particulate matter/dust) provokes an increase in mortality rates through respiratory diseases in the elderly and children in the two days following high levels of air pollution and points to an increase of 25 per cent in the demand for public health care in childrens' hospitals in the same two-day period. Another alarming finding was the verification of an increase of 12 per cent in the mortality rates of the elderly over 65 years. The LAP verified an increase of 13 per cent in the mortality of elderly with an amplification of ug/m3 in the concentration of inhalable particulates. This laboratory has been producing relevant research on atmospheric pollution since 1980. The official data given by the Institute of Children (the largest specialized official health institution linked to the State Secretary of Health) between the months of May and September indicates that there is an increase of 20 per cent in the number of internations due to respiratory problems when the quality of air significantly deteriorates. According to Saldiva (1995/96: 23), `always when there is an increase in the concentration of inhalable particulates, one verifies an increase in the number of internations,
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in the city's three sewage treatment plants. As with the water supply network, the sewage collection networks are also distributed among the city's districts unequally, but the differences are much larger. While most central districts have a fully serviced population, in suburban districts the extent of the service is only partial and, in some cases, it does not even cover 15 per cent of the population (Teixeira, 1995). There has been an enormous delay in the expansion of the system, due to technical, political and economic factors and impasses to the proposed Program of Sanitation initiated in 1983, interrupted for more than seven years and, eventually, re-started, albeit at a very slow pace in 1996. The outcomes of this deficit are very serious. In some areas, the network is insufficient for collecting sewage, thus resulting in open-air sewage-dumping, clandestine connections to the rainwater network and direct sewage dumping in waterways (streams and rivers), resulting in the spread of infectious diseases. The main polluting source of the waterways is domestic effluent, responsible for two-thirds of the contamination, as 90 per cent of the sewage is not treated (Jacobi, 1995; Sobral, 1995).

Flooding Diagnosis
Another complex, environmentally-related issue in the city is floods. The lack of public policies compatible with the intense growth of urbanization and lack of land-use legislation that could help control this irregular growth, has created an `illegal city' that occupies empty space within the city, mainly located in the less-valued areas because of their proximity to streamlets in the peripheries and close to water sources. The chaotic occupation of land provoked excessive waterproofing of urban soil and a lack of green areas, creating a permanent increase in the maximum flow of drainage and diminishing the time of concentration of the waters. The coefficient of run-off has increased significantly with urban growth and an important part of the pluvial waters do not filter and, as the flowingoff occurs superficially, it contributes to the flooding. On the other hand, the deterioration of the drainage system in some areas of the city has prevented water-flow. This causes severe floods, erosion and sliding. Sao Paol has 1,552 km of streamlets and, of these, only 420 are canalized with another 548 needing investment in public works. As a result, there has been an increase in the number of critical flooding- and erosionpoints in the city, reaching around 470 in 1996 220 of flooding, 180 of sliding and 70 to both, and almost 1000 in the SPMR. It is also worth emphasizing that the more affected areas are those located in the periphery of the city. Its

solution implies an integrated and articulated solution, which has not occurred due to administrative discontinuity (Jacobi, 1995; Sobral, 1995; Special Study Commission on Flooding, 1995). According to data published by the Special Commission (1995) that studied the problem of floods in the city for the City Council, losses due to flooding have been substantial. During the floods that occurred in March 1995, losses were estimated as US$65 million and damage to the population in terms of their daily lives is becoming greater, every year. Traffic congestion reached 119 km and, besides the direct costs in fuel, this represents a paralysis in the flow of cargo. The rain that affected the city during one day on January 4, 1996, provoked 70 critical flooding points and more than 50 incidents of sliding, 80 km of traffic congestion and more than 80 casualties. These problems repeat themselves every year, several times, implying a loss of patrimony and a growing risk of infectious diseases, like leptospirosis. The mortality of this disease reaches 20 per cent, peaking during flooding period (December/March). Although the authorities have implemented some solutions, the lack of articulation between state and municipal government has been very harmful for the city as a whole. The key problems are the lack of waterproofing of 60 per cent of the city, meaning that water runs faster and rivers do not have carrying capacity; an enormous level of erosion (5 million cubic metres per year); and precarious maintenance and obsolescence of the drainage system.

Households and Environmental Risk Perceptions

The outcomes of research developed in 1991/ 1992 about environmental problems and the perceptions of households as observed and prioritized at the neighbourhood and household level, indicate that well-known differences and inequalities occur also at the environmental risk level. This research was done in Accra, Jakarta and Sao Paulo, utilizing the same methodology under the general co-ordination of Gordon McGranahan from the Stockholm Environment Institute. The samples included 1000 representative households. In the case of Sao Paulo, the sample was chosen to allow the findings to be representative of six socioeconomic strata and of different spatial locations in 30 selected districts of the 96 that compose the city. For the households assessing environmental degradation in the city of Sao Paulo, the main problems were air pollution; degradation and pollution of water sources; and the effects of uncontrolled solid-waste dumping.
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As to air pollution, 40 per cent of households emphasize the need to inspect motor cars and industrial emissions, followed by aspects related to city management, with 36 per cent. On the other hand, a reduction in the volume of vehicles in circulation accounted for 9 per cent. This indicates that solutions involving behavioural changes have a lesser impact than those mainly dependent on action of public authorities. As to water source degradation, 49 per cent of households expressed their concern to clean-up the city's rivers, watersheds and reservoirs and to control industrial and domestic waste and sewage disposal. The preference, here, is basically for government action, with 88 per cent support. Within this perspective, there is a perception of degradation of water sources and the need to change attitudes, inform, guide and educate about the risks. The answers that involve an attitude of shared responsibility, also recognize the need for educational efforts on the relationship between quality of life and health and the need to inform people about environment problems caused by water pollution. It can be observed that there is only a small difference between the strata concerning attitudes and awareness of the problems, in spite of very different socio-economic contexts. As to solid waste, the most important aspect was judged to be educating people not to dump waste in vacant lots and streamlets, with 48 per cent support and, secondly, to set-up collection points in areas of difficult access, with 20 per cent (more concentrated on the lower income strata). The solutions related to educational campaigns received 35 per cent support, followed by those that require a wider commitment from the community in order to ensure better sanitation (28 per cent). The outcomes indicate a situation where, in terms of political decision-making, more stress should be put on public education campaigns as well as co-responsibility in preventing poor basic health and sanitation conditions, irrespective of socioeconomic stratum. An important conclusion of this research is that households of all income levels give more emphasis to those aspects of environmental degradation that are directly linked to daily life. The perceptions are, generally, oriented towards the constraints and discomforts that these problems cause in routine activities. This was observed in analysis of the importance given to problems of water availability which is not a very significant problem at the city level as compared to, say, sewerage shortage which is concentrated mainly in the more deprived areas of the city. The familiarity with environmental damage is related to a set of interactions that include socioeconomic, political-administrative, informational
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and socio-cultural factors, be they obstacles or advantages. The outcomes show that most households are aware of existing measures and possibilities for preventing disease and other negative impacts of environmental degradation. Despite these perceptions, households generally accept living with these difficult problems and consider that they have to be solved mainly through government acting as the controller, manager and agent responsible for preventing environmental degradation (Jacobi, 1995). Households establish links between degraded living conditions, poor information and lack of awareness of environmental health risks and express expectations and frustrations about improvements and inaction by government at all levels. The emphasis put on the need for educational campaigns and an increase in information indicates an important gap to be filled by public authorities and a potential for collaboration with concerned civil groups in innovative practices.

Policies and Interventions Challenges and Possibilities

This section refers to the complexity of environmental management processes and the implementation of non-conventional policies and programs to prevent an aggravation of the already existing environmental degradation in the Metropolitan Region, in particular, the city of Sao Paulo. In recent years, public authorities have taken some measures to limit the environmental degradation caused by the emission of toxic substances in the air. The first initiative took place in 1988, when the authorities, given dangerous levels of air pollution, declared the emergency control, within the central area of the city, of the circulation of vehicles during one day. This was only applied once, and experimentally, thus hindering the increase in local air pollution. Since then, other attempts were made to restrict the movement of vehicles. However, none of these was formalized (Debates Socio Ambientais 2, 1995/96). In 1995, the environmental agencies re-introduced some of the main control mechanisms Rodizio (restrictions on the use of one's car, once a week, according to the registration plate) and the compulsory inspection of emission levels of vehicles, with its antecedents being in the experiences of other great metropolises - Mexico City and Santiago de Chile. Federal and state governments are discussing the implementation of a Program of Inspection and Maintenance of Vehicles in Use (I/M) which foresees the compulsory inspection of vehicles by authorized stations in cities that have critical

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air pollution situations. The Program was evaluated for the whole Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area and detailed by CETESB, when, in 1994, the Municipality of the city of Sao Paulo opened bidding for private companies to explore the service. This situation generated a conflict of competences between state and municipality and a judicial dispute as to the creation of a monopoly to execute public services because of the dubiuous process of bidding which is still pending. During 1995 and, to a lesser degree, 1996, there has been a dispute to define the control of this programme aiming to reduce pollution levels in the city (Demajorovic and MacDowell, 1996). As a preventive measure, the State Secretariat of Environment has defended, since 1995, the implementation of the Operacao Rodizio to operate in the winter season, when pollution levels increase. The justification for this procedure is the need to remove, daily, a percentage of cars in circulation, thus reducing the level of emissions and traffic congestion. During one week, an experimental and noncompulsory programme was implemented, although to divided opinions between specialists and society in general. For the critics, it barely represented a mitigating measure, given the precariousness of the public transportation system and the imposed costs to society. Those in favor of the initiative considered it to be successful, achieving the support of 38 per cent of the drivers during the whole week. This was considered good in that it was voluntary and had no support from the municipal authorities. Despite its short duration, the effects on air quality were felt; namely, a reduction in carbon monoxide. The success of the trial gave strength to the Secretariat to propose the implementation, on a compulsory basis, of a US $200 penalty for the months of JuneAugust 1996. From its beginning, the programme was presented as an emergency and civil defense measure. It was an emergency because data on health indicated that certain measures had to be taken during the winter season. This, however, had to be sent as a law to the State Assembly for a mandate. After a session of intense negotiations, the law was passed, but with a delay that could jeopardize the programme for the future. The time period was reduced only to the month of August (7am to 8 pm) excluding buses, trucks and school buses. From this moment, the Rodizio was no longer a voluntary activity, but a compulsory one, with a US $100 penalty. This multiplied the already existing controversies around the proposal. The main obstacle concerned the operationalization of the programme and poor public transportation. Also, drivers pointed out that this was a mitigating measure that did not

solve the problem as there were no complementary measures to improve circulation in the city, such as increasing the network of subway and urban trains. The existing subway network, with only three lines extending 44km, and with almost no investment in the last decade, is very restrictive to future city expansion. Several initiatives were taken by those opposing the Program but none of them succeeded and the Operacao Rodizio was implemented without the support of the press. Several activities were developed in the weeks prior to implementation such as the distribution of pamphlets in streets and schools and some public debate to stimulate discussion. All these initiatives were carried out almost without any public resources because of state budgetary restrictions. Some private companies participated in partnership that helped to develop activities, including tele-marketing to the citizenship (3,200,000 calls); 430 outdoor advertisements; 8 electronic panels; publicity in newspapers; 9,500,000 folders distributed in streets and important crossings; 1,000,000 stickers; and other publicity devices. During the whole month, a series of activities to involve the population were initiated, including 15 debates; four conferences on international experiences; and 80 presentations in schools, where 1,300 kits on the `Operation Sao Paulo Breathes' were distributed. The outcomes presented in official reports from the Secretariat are relevant and indicate the success of this complex initiative. The average adherence during the month of August was 95 per cent, representing the withdrawal of 456,000 cars per day and the reduction of 329V/day of carbon monoxide, a reduction of 14.25 per cent. The emission of carbon monoxide from cars fell 66 per cent to 50.85 and the average reduction in the city was 19.1 per cent, representing an average circulating fleet of 2,774,000 a day. The official data indicates that there was an improvement in air quality and, besides this, there was a reduction in traffic congestion in the city. An assessment of the average fleet withdrawn and the effect of the fluidity of the circulating fleet represents a reduction of carbon monoxide of 529.3V/day. There was an increase from 16km/h to 20 km/h in the average speed of buses, representing an increase of 2 per cent in the number of daily trips. The average reduction in traffic congestion was 39 per cent and during the month almost 170,000 penalties were applied (SEMA, 1996). After the conclusion of Operacao Rodizio, public opinion was sought and research done by one of the most influential newspapers indicated that 57.7 per cent of the population considered that this programme had to continue.
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This positive evaluation, even considering that it did not affect, significantly, air quality, shows that it is possible for the `Paulistano' (an inhabitant of the city of Sao Paulo) to do something tangible to improve the quality of life in the city.

Conclusion
The successful experience of Operacao Rodizio, despite its limitations, indicates that there is a need for public authorities to be innovative and audacious in formulating and implementing environmentally-concerned public policies. The Program can be seen as an environmental education experience, on a large-scale, where the inductive process, based on a penalty, created the conditions to put into practice an initiative that affects vested interests. It was an excellent opportunity to debate the crisis management of environmental degradation in mega-cities. There are no easy answers and most of the experience had to be based on coresponsibility, a positive test of citizenship and the need to implement complementary measures that did not only rely on the fact that the population was doing its part but also that public authorities, at all levels, had to implement interventions to reduce the acuteness of the public transportation problem and stimulate more collaborative partnership and cooperation with those who had to concede (drivers). What has to be stressed is that implementation of non-conventional policies and programmes to prevent environmental degradation are very complex and that, in recent years, only this initiative (Operacao Rodizio) can be considered innovative because of the institutional engineering on which it is based. The main elements of this initiative link the need to increase people's information about existing environmental risks and the importance of their input of social capital (willingness to participate in the positive outcomes of public policies) as part of a necessary democratic interaction between local government and citizenship. Confronting the prevailing logic of government tutelage is best done by opening more democratic doors, as local government can bolster the positive incentives for participation by encouraging citizen commitment, through the knowledge of environmental risks and alternatively-oriented practices, that valorize general interest, thus representating

environmental preservation of natural collective goods. Implementation implies not only sociopolitical articulation but agreement with the basic idea that a process is not only proposed but made public. In addition, the process entails dissemination through public information campaigns and consultative mechanisms oriented towards building the capacity of the community to stimulate and consolidate an efficient and consistent process of participation.

References
CETESB (1995), Relatorio de Qualidade do Arem Sao Paulo, Cetesb, S30 Paulo. Debates Socio-Ambientais 1 (1995), Residuos Solidos, Cedec, Sao Paulo. Debates Socio-Ambientais 2 (1995/96), Polui cao Atmosferica, Cedec, Sao Paulo. Demajorovic, J. and MacDowell, S. (1996), `Meio Ambiente, Condi coes de Vida e Politicas Sociais', Boletim de Conjuntura Polifica Social, FUNDAP, Sao Paulo. EMPLASA (1994), Sumario de dados da Grande Sao Paulo, Secretariat of Planning, Sao Paulo. Jacobi, P. (1990), `Habitat and Health in the Municipality of Sao Paulo, Environment and Urbanization 2, pp. 3345. Jacobi, P. (1995), Environmental Problems Facing Urban Households in the City of Sao Paulo, Brazil, SEI, Stockholm. Jacobi, P. and Teixeira, M.A. (1995), `Conflitos SocioAmbientais: Diagnostico da Cidade de Sao Paulo', Cadernos Cedec 45, Cedec, Sao Paulo. Oliveira, S. (1995), `Residuos Solidos na Regiao Metropolitana de Sao Paulo: Uma Visao Contemporanea', Debates Socio-Ambientais 1, Cedec, San Paulo, pp. 67. Rolnik, R. et al (1990), Sao Paulo, Crise e Mudanca, Brasiliense, Sao Paulo. Saldiva, P. (1995/96), `Efeitos da Polui cao Atmosfrica na Saude', Debates Socio-Ambientais 3, Cedec, Sao Paulo, p. 26. Secretaria do Meio Ambiente (SEMA) (1996), Balanco da Opera, cao Respira Sao Paulo, SEMA, Sao Paulo. Segura, D. and Tella, M.A. (1995/96), `Polui cao Atmosfrica: Um Quadro Preocupante', Debates Socio-Ambientais 2, Cedec, Sao Paulo, pp. 45. Sobral, H. (1995), 0 Meio Ambiente e a Cidade de Sao Paulo, Makron Books, Sao Paulo. Special Study Commission on Flooding (1995), Study on Flooding Problems in Sao Paulo, Municipal City Council, Sao Paulo. Teixeira, M.A. ( 1995), `Produ cao e Destino do Lixo na Metropole Paulistana', Debates Socio-Ambientais 1, Cedec, Sao Paulo, pp. 34.

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